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Malaysia Curbs Influx of Middle East Visitors
JAKARTA, Nov 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Singapore's
Straits Times newspaper on Tuesday reported that Malaysia has imposed visa restrictions on Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian nationals in a step expected to aid in cutting the flow of human smuggling and terrorist activities.
"It is for the purpose of internal security, and it is only fair for us to take precautions," Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung said.
Previously, citizens of most Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran could enter Malaysia freely without prior visa applications.
Mujahideen's (fighters) who fought against the Russians were also allowed in Malaysia after Indonesia, until former president Abdurrahman Wahid ordered them to leave the country in 1999.
They were given temporary refuge in Malaysia under the supervision of the U.N. and were later sent to other destinations, such as Australia or back to Afghanistan in some cases.
The Malaysian government allowed Middle Easterners to enter almost freely into the country in a bid to encourage tourism from the region.
Singapore and Australia, however, criticized Malaysia because human smugglers are using Kuala Lumpur as a transit point for trafficking in illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Scores of Afghans and Iraqis enter Malaysia legitimately before going on to Indonesia with the use of fake passports, the newspaper reported.
From Indonesia, they travel by overcrowded boats and head for Australia to seek asylum.
The recent boat incident in Indonesia where hundreds of Afghani boat people died when their vessel sank off he coast of Australia is also attributed to human smuggling via Malaysia.
Australia refused to take any action to salvage the drowning boat people, while Indonesia offered them temporary asylum, food and shelter.
The Straits Times also indicated that a Malaysian immigration official said the new visa restrictions were also imposed in response to fears that terrorists may enter Malaysia.
An official with the Afghanistan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur that is linked with the Northern Alliance told The
Straits Times that he was happy with the Malaysian government's response.
But he expressed fears that terrorists may already be among the 1,000 Afghans in Malaysia. The embassy official said he hoped there would be discussions with Malaysian immigration to view the list of Afghan nationals in the country.
He said syndicates offering passage to Australia and other countries were cheating many Afghans considered transit visitors or tourists in Malaysia.
Many of them are allowed to stay in Malaysia, some with their wives and children, others in small group of relatives or friends, due to the war in Afghanistan. Many of them have also decided to take their distance from Afghanistan, fleeing the Taliban regime they say is harsh on them.
A group of Afghans and Iraqis at the Malaysian immigration department said they were in Malaysia on a social visit and that the immigration department extended their visas for a few months.
Spending thousands of dollars in airfare and other means of transportation to reach Indonesia, they added that they left Iraq and Afghanistan because they could not live in the conditions there.
Under Wahid, Indonesia considered the Afghans mujahideen. They were asked to leave Jakarta and allowed to go to Malaysia were they were given safe heaven.
Malaysia then decided to give them month-to-month extensions of their visas to allow them to stay in Kuala Lumpur temporarily on humanitarian grounds.
Activists from non-government organizations (NGOs) here said the government should respond by giving the Afghans refugee status, the
Straits Times said.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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